864 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
of rock cemented, as sometimes happens, into a breccia as solid as 
the original rock, and overgrown with grass” (Phil. Trans. 1822, 
pp- 171—240). The conclusion I arrived at, after studying so 
much of the roof of the cavern of 1858 as remained intact, was 
that Dr. Buckland’s ,opinion was fully borne out by the facts; 
that, in short, the Oreston Caverns were Fissure Caverns, not 
Tunnel Caverns. The cavern of 1858 was an almost vertical 
fissure, extending a length of about 90 feet from N.N.E. to 8.S.W. 
It commenced at about 8 feet below the surface of the plateau, 
continued thence to the base of the cliff, but how much further 
was not known, and its ascertained height was about 52 feet. It 
was 2 feet wide at top, whence it gradually widened to 10 feet at 
bottom. The roof, judging from that part which had not been 
destroyed, was a mass of limestone-breccia, made up of large angular 
fragments, cemented with carbonate of lime, and requiring to be 
blasted as much as ordinary limestone. The cavern was com- 
pletely filled with deposits of various kinds. The uppermost 8 feet 
consisted of loose angular pieces of limestone, none of which 
exceeded 10 ths. in weight, mixed with a comparatively small 
amount of such sand as is common in dolomitised limestone 
districts, but without a trace of stalagmite or fossil of any kind. 
The 82 feet next below were occupied with similar materials, with 
the addition of a considerable quantity of tough, dark, unctuous 
clay. Between this mass and the outer wall of the cavern was a 
nearly vertical plate of stalagmite, usually about 2 feet thick, and 
containing, at by no means wide intervals, firmly cemented masses 
of breccia identical in composition with the adjacent bed just 
mentioned. The bones the cavern yielded were all found within 
these 32 feet; and were met with equally in the loose and the 
coherent breccia, as well as in the stalagmite. A somewhat con- 
siderable number of ellipsoidal balls of clay, from 1°5 to 2°5 inches 
in greatest diameter, occurred in the clay of this bone-bed, but not 
elsewhere. Still lower was a mass of dark, tough, unctuous clay, 
containing a very few, small, angular stones, but otherwise perfectly 
homogeneous, and known to be 12 feet deep, but how much more 
was undetermined. The osseous remains found at Oreston prior 
to 1858 have been described by Sir E. Home, Mr. Clift, Dr. Buck- 
land, Prof. Owen, Mr. Busk, and others. The animals represented 
were Ursus priscus, U.speleus, Weasel (?), Wolf, Fox, Cave Hyena, 
Cave Lion, Rhinoceros leptorhinus, Equus fossilis, E. plicidens, 
